Crawley Town Hall is a municipal structure in The Boulevard,

Crawley Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, England. It was completed in 2023 and serves as the headquarters of

Crawley Borough Council Crawley Borough Council is the local authority for Crawley in West Sussex, England. It consists of 36 councillors and is currently controlled by the Labour Party, led by Michael Jones. The administrative headquarters are at Crawley Town Hall. ...

History

Following significant population growth associated with the development of the new town, Crawley became an urban district in 1956. The new council leaders decided to commission a town hall and acquired a site on the north side of The Boulevard from Crawley Development Corporation in May 1958. The building was designed by

Max Clendinning Walter Max Clendinning (26 September 1924 – 4 June 2020) was an architect, interior designer and furniture designer. Clendinning was born on 26 September 1924 in Richhill, County Armagh, Richhill, County Armagh in Northern Ireland, the son of ...

of Brown Henson & Partners in the Brutalist style, built in concrete and glass and was officially opened by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Michael Stewart on 14 November 1964. The design of the old town hall involved a six-storey block which was canted forward over the main entrance and also extended to the rear behind the front elevation. It was attached to the east, via a long low-rise connecting block, to an auditorium known as the "Civic Hall". The complex was faced with alternating bands of concrete and windows. The principal room in the town hall was the council chamber, which was furnished in a minimalist style. The

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

, ''

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

'', performed in the civic hall in April 1965. In February 2017, council leaders decided that the old complex was no longer fit-for-purpose and, despite a petition to save it, they initiated demolition of the complex in January 2020. They also signed a contract for a new town hall to be erected on the site of the old civic hall. Construction on the new building began in spring 2020. The new building was designed by Cartwright Pickard in the

International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

, built by Kier Group in concrete and glass. The design involved a nine-storey square-shaped building: the lower storeys were reserved for municipal use while the upper storeys made available for commercial tenants. At the southwest corner of the building, the lower two floors were recessed to create an entrance and a large carving of the borough coat of arms was installed there in August 2022. The new building was formally opened on 21 March 2023.

References

{{Crawley City and town halls in West Sussex Buildings and structures in Crawley